According to the survey for The Art Fund, seven out of 10 Britons think the stamps would be a fitting way to pay tribute to the 175 British servicemen and women killed in Iraq since the conflict began in 2003.

David Barrie, director of The Art Fund, said: "I very much hope Royal Mail will recognise the strength of support for the issue of the stamps, coming as it does both from the relatives of those who have lost their lives in Iraq and from the wider British public."

A Royal Mail spokesman said that the role and sacrifice of Britain's servicemen and women played a key role in its special stamps programme every year.

But he said Royal Mail believed that "a period of reflection would be required to do justice to a subject of such gravity as the current and ongoing conflict in Iraq, and any other conflict".

An online petition to make the stamps public has been organised by The Art Fund and the Queen and Country exhibition is on display at London's Imperial War Museum.